Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Defendant was a convicted California sex offender. This is NOT a SORNA case, but rather whether enhancing a sentence if the defendant commits certain sex crimes against a minor while under a state duty to register as a sex offender is an ex post facto violation. The district court held it was. The 9th reversed. The 9th held the enhanced sentence was akin to a recidivist statute, and went to a defendant's status and obligations when he commits a present offense.

Defendant was revoked from SR and ordered to surrender. He did not. Subsequently, he was charged with failure to surrender. The maximum sentence for the violation varies depending on the length of the underlying offense. Here, was it the original sentence that lead to SR (theft of mail key) which was 10 years or the SR violation (two years). No surprise: the 9th went with the underlying offense, which is what sister circuits also did.